Columbia ACM/ICPC Team

About ACM/ICPC

ACM International Collegiate
Programming Contest (ICPC) is one of the largest and most
prestigious collegiate programming contests in the world. Students
compete in teams of 3 to solve a series of problems of a
mathematical/algorithmic nature. ACM/ICPC is a multitier
competition. Universities compete in regional contests. Then
winners of regional contests advance to the world finals. From each
region, at least one team goes to the world finals.

Columbia University falls into the Greater New York region.
Although the smallest region in North America, it is highly
competitive. Each year, more than 50 teams attend the Greater New
York regional contest, including teams from Columbia, Princeton,
Cornell, and Yale.

Benefits of Competing

There are a number of benefits of competing, or even just attending
practices. You get to learn a lot about problem solving and
algorithms; you get exposure to the type of problems that
interviewers (for tech/finance/etc companies) love; it is a
valuable addition to a resume; you could win great prizes, get
all-expenses paid travel if you advance past regional contests.
The world finals have been held in Hawaii, Prague, Stockholm,
Tokyo, and Harbin. And of course, there is always the fun of
problem solving and meeting new people!

Training

We hold practices every weekend (Saturday or Sunday), and everyone
is welcome to join us, although there are eligibility rules for the
formal competitions. If you are interested, please join our
mailing list for more information.